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Arcanus Malefactorum
Second to the Circle Trinity, the Arcanus Malefactorum is the most powerful magical organization operating in Paradigm City. The Malefactorum has been around for a long time; some say even before the Circle Trinity came to power but this is unlikely. The Malefactorum currently employs fifteen criminal metahumans and a plethora of specialized non-human and non-metahuman agents. The group is the purview of the Overlord Parasol of Darkness Falls and also operates as her elite strike team. History of the Malefactorum When Victoria Wainbridge, newly appointed by Mastermind as the first Overlord of Darkness Falls, laid out her plans to control the city's crime she knew that in order to maintain power she would need an elite strike team capable of withstanding all assaults, whether from patrol cops or superheroes. To that end she began scouring the world, seeking powerfully mystic or mystic aligned criminals to make up her super-strike force, which she named the Arcanus Malefactorum. She was very successful in this endeavor, using a triple attack of personal wealth, promises of personal power, and her breathtaking sexuality to reel team members in; depending on which facet of what she could offer appealed to them most. In it's heydey the Arcanus Malefactorum was the most feared organization operating in Darkness Falls. Nobody could stand against them. It all changed when Waibridge was abducted during the Extant Event. Bereft of leadership, the members of the Malefactorum drifted away and no more was heard from it through the following Overlord appointments of Tattletale, and then Parasol. When Parasol began her direct assault on Little Asia and its ruling Overlord Snapdragon, she realized she had vastly underestimated the might of her foe. As Snapdragon pushed back much harder than Parasol had anticipated her to Parasol realized that she would need additional firepower. Turning her the memory of her predecessor, Parasol too began scanning the globe and recruiting very specialized agents with which she planned to reinstitute the Arcanus Malefactorum. The Malefactorum officially returned to Darkness Falls in October of 2015. Since that time they have once again asserted themselves as the most fearsome magical organization operating in Darkness Falls. Within the city limits of Darkness Falls the Malefactorum is easily as powerful as the Circle Trinity, and just as influential. Most mystic crimes and mystic criminals can tie activities directly back to the Malefactorum. Those mystic criminals that aren't temporarily hired to act on behalf of the Malefactorum usually pay the organization great respect in the form of a tribute of some kind for allowing them to operate with impunity. Even if a criminal chooses not to offer such a tribute they don't have much to fear; the Malefactorum only takes action when a criminal tries to pin a crime on them or openly displays disrespect for its authority. Members The primary agents of the Arcanus Malefactor, the fifteen criminals listed here, aren't a cohesive team in the usual sense. They work well together, fight well together, and get along relatively acceptably but they are all independent criminals with their own goals and agendas. They only come together as a full fighting unit when called to do so by Parasol or, to a lesser extent, by Black Seraph. A-Game -- Michael Fuao was born in Darkness Falls Chinatown, in the Mesa District of Paradigm City's great Historical District. His family, going back centuries, we known as warriors; specializing in a wide variety of kung-fu. Michael was proud of this family tradition and followed it, spending his youth mastering the Tiger Claw, Long Fist, and Hung-Ga styles of kung-fu. He was an international competitor and the holder of many trophies. While living abroad in China he came into the possession of a family heirloom, an ancient and mystically imbued kwan dao. When he returned to Chinatown Micheal briefly considered becoming a hero, but went down a darker road instead hoping to find an easy way to get rich. As A-Game, Micheal wears a black kung-fu outfit and mask. His enchanted kwan dao is a six foot long curve-bladed spear that he wields with exceptional skill. With the spear he can deflect or parry attacks, slice through most substances effortlessly, and produce a variety of arcane blasts for long-ranged attacks. A-Game has battled Chinatown's premier hero, Gossamer, on many occasions. Academia '-- Richard Thomlinson is wanted in Darkness Falls for the serial murder of 17 women. Outwardly he is an unassuming man in his fifties, portly and going bald. He is also a uniquely brilliant strategist, weaving hundreds of plots within plots, false clues, and preparing for contingencies. Academia is the man the Arcanus Malefactorum turns to for it's mission schematics which is largely why it is so successful. Thomlinson is in no way super-powered and wouldn't last eight seconds against a hero so he always stays within headquarters, keeping Parasol company. '''Boneyard '-- Irish born Jeanette Weller always scoffed at her eccentric family's timeless tradition of studying black magic and dancing in hellfire clubs, but when it was revealed to her on her 18th birthday that she, like all of the females in her family line, was meant to be something more ''and the spells cast on her proved it, she jumped into her new criminal life with both feet. When Parasol came calling after Jeanette had committed several assassinations for various organized crime families and offered her a place in the Arcanus Malefactorum, Jeanette quickly accepted. Boneyard is able to use her entire body as a weapon. She can transform her teeth into fangs and her nails into claws, cause bones spikes and knobs and protrusions to erupt from her skin, use her intestines or hair as nooses and garrotes, and even transform her saliva into a variety of acids or poisons owing to the enchantments placed on her. '''Brilliant '-- London born Amy Chesterfield was attracted to sorcery at an early age, especially synthemancy. Once she had mastered the art she began a successful career as a criminal, eventually finding Scotland Yard and numerous London-based superheroes getting too close to her secret identity for comfort. She relocated to Paradigm City and continued her career in Darkness Falls, finding the name of her new city and her powers a beautiful subject of irony. Brilliant is able to cast spells based on photosynthesis and the application of light. She can produce a variety of blasts, causes sudden and intense bursts of blinding light, render herself invisible, create cutting lasers from her fingertips, and other such effects. 'Catechism '-- Tracy Mallard, native of Darkness Falls, is one of the original Arcanus Malefactorum members and also one of the most experienced. For 20 years Tracy, operating under the name Chapel, hunted down and killed superheroes, ever since her beloved father was killed by a hero on the steps of their local church. She was a mediocre villain at best, but Parasol liked her. When Parasol offered to boost her powers, Tracy agreed to become a member and reinvented herself as Catechism. As Chapel, Tracy could lift 10 tons and could withstand small caliber arms fire. As Catechism she has had an extreme power boost: She can now lift 60 tons and withstand military grade firepower. In addition to that she is able to absorb energy, using excess absorption to further enhance her strength and ability to resist damage. Catechism really came into the limelight and put the newly formed Malefactorum on the map when she was able to single-handedly battle the heroes Babylon and Girl Wonder, together, to a standstill before she managed to escape. 'Catacomb '-- Also one of the original Arcanus Malefactorum agents, nobody knows who Catacomb was in life. In death, he is a well dressed black man with a seeming eternal smile that's creepy, at best. As an undead, Catacomb is impervious to all forms of harm except magic and fire. He is one of the team bricks as a result, further enchanted by Hand of Glory with the power to to entomb anyone he grabs in a thick, flesh-like substance. '''Cat's Eye -- Has been identified as 15 year old Uma Lumiere from Montreal, Canada. She is a rare thing in the occult world: a true werebeast. Cat's Eye can, at will, shape-shift into a fully grown black panther or a five foot tall humanoid feline. When shape shifted she possesses animal senses, amazing reflexes, agility, and balance; and lethal slashing claws and teeth. Because she is a true werebeast she has specific inherent mystic defenses; only magic and silver weapons can harm her. She is quite a deadly little assassin. Horror Show -- Nobody knows who Horror Show really is, only that she .. or it if one witness is to be believed .. was at one time the most virulent political assassin in Europe. Specifically targeting men, she would get close to her victims by appearing to be exactly the physical type of companion her target liked. Most agree she is a shape-changer, and possibly a minor telepath which would explain how she could know exactly what physical attributes to adopt in order to catch her victim's eye. She is reputed to be an expert knife fighter and sharpshooter. Only one of her victims is known to have survived her attack, a young Danish politician named Dana Travinsi. He, screaming from his current cell is a sanitarium, claims that Horror Show isn't a woman at all but a mass of gleaming, wet, undulating tissue with multiple mouths, on top of three thick legs and having a mass of whipping tentacles on its crown. How Horror Show came to be associated with the Arcanus Malefactorum is not known. 'Mountain '-- Early in her career, Hand of Glory took a love in an unremarkable bank robber named Jeff Jones. When Jones was shot in the belly during one such robbery he managed to stumble to Glory's arms, on the verge of death. Hoping to save his life, she summoned up an earth elemental and then transferred Jones' essence into it. Mountain, eight feet tall of solid earth and stone studded with jagged stone spike, served in the Malefactorum faithfully for years until the Extant Event took the love of his life away from him. Now that he is back with the organization that gave him a new life as an archetypal brick, Mountain follows orders but is less concerned with his career and focuses most of his time on trying to discover the whereabouts of his beloved Victoria Wainbridge. 'Pleiades '-- Anita Venelez migrated to Darkness Falls from her native Bolivia specifically to learn magic from Parasol at the age of 14. She spent the next five years practicing thaumaturgy and is now, at 19, considered one of the best in Darkness Falls. She is Parasol's most loyal agents of the Arcanus Malefactorum, serving the Overlord as a messenger, running errands, and keeping Parasol in the lop about the activities of all the other members. Pleiades is able to conjure up extra-planar entities and creatures ranging from giant insects to Lovecraftian horrors to fight on her behalf. Pleiades is the one member of the Malefactorum that heroes are most likely to encounter as she is often very busy in the organization and moving around on a variety of assignments. 'Romance '-- Charlotte Naples is a crime boss of Darkness Falls in her own right, keeping her clients fat and satisfied on a variety of illegal drugs from the pulse-pounding nightclub she owns. Romance takes her name from her exemplary mind control powers, which she uses to great effect by causing innocent club-goers to viciously hurl themselves at law enforcement and superheroes on her behalf. In addition to her mind control abilities Romance is a minor telepath, able to trigger her victims' minds with an onslaught of their personal memories to such an extent that they can be rendered unconscious by the overflow of images. 'Tarot '-- Is believed to be one of Hand of Glory's original apprentices, even though she is just a mere sixteen years old. She has not been identified, but there is ample evidence that she learned her unique magical powers in Raven's Grove, at the famous School for Girls. Tarot's magic is similar to Pleiades in that she can summon creatures to fight for her but in Tarot's case such creatures spring forth from drawings and illustrations. She is one of the original members of the Arcanus Malefactorum and quite enjoys verbally harassing and taunting heroes even as she opens up a book on medieval fantasy and sends a massive dragon out to tackle them. 'Vault '-- Jim Walderman was at one point just one of the many faces among Creepshow lingering in Darkness Falls. But he sent himself skyrocketing into the super-human world by saving Parasol from an overeager police officer. According to reports the lady in question was on a rare shopping outing when she was spotted by a beat cop. The officer approached her with his gun drawn, most likely thinking about the way the city would reward him for being the officer to bring in an Overlord. Before either the cop of Parasol could act Walderman, whom had been watching the exchange, threw himself at the cop and wrestled him to the ground. Parasol dispatched the officer, but was so impressed with Walderman's 'chivalry' she invited him into the Malefactorum and performed a special ritual on him. Walderman is now six foot three inches tall and weighs 2 tons. His skin has been permanently changed into a blood red colored organic steel which renders him virtually impervious to harm. His strength has likewise been enhanced, he can lift 10 tons of weight. Although Vault has the potential to be a true criminal threat and a crime boss he lacks the imagination and creativity for such a task, and is content to follow Parasol around like a love-starved puppy. 'Vinyl '-- Hirami Shumoga grew up in Tokyo, up until the manifestation of her mutant powers at 13 years old. Her family, terrified by what their daughter was, ejected her from home and forced her to live on the streets, where she learned to hate. At 17 she somehow made her way to Darkness Falls, where she earned a living hiring herself out to local gangs as a thug. What exactly it was the brought Hirami to Parasol's attention is uncertain, but three years after she is a well-trained and experienced member of the Arcanus Malefactorum. Vinyl has been trained in Tae Kwon Do and excells with the martial art, especially when used in conjunction with her mutant power. Vinyl is able to surround her hands and her feet with an unknown form of energy which adds a tremendous amount of impact force to her strikes. She can also use this energy defensively by 'grabbing' energy attacks out of the air and deflect them or sending them back at her attackers.